Roger Dean
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Roger Dean (born August 31, 1944) is a contemporary artist best known for his work on album covers, which began in the late 1960s. He was born in England, but spent most of his childhood moving around the world with his British Army father. The family returned to England in 1959 and Dean earned a National Diploma of Design from the Canterbury School of Art. In 1968, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London.
His first album cover work was for a group called Gun. In 1971, Dean produced the first album cover for the African group Osibisa, which attracted a lot of attention to his work. Later that year, he began the partnership for which he is best known, designing his first album cover (Fragile) for the progressive rock band Yes. Dean designed the classic Yes logo, which first appeared on the album Close to the Edge and has created covers for the band as recently as 1999 (The Ladder). Yes guitarist Steve Howe said, "There is a pretty tight bond between our sound and Roger's art."
Known primarily for the dreamy, other-worldly scenes he has created for Yes, Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and other bands, Dean has said, "I don't really think of myself as a fantasy artist but as a landscape painter." Many of his paintings use mixed media including gouache, watercolor, ink, enamel, crayon and collage.
Two compilations of his work, Views (1975) and Magnetic Storm (1984), have been published. In addition, his architectural and furniture work has been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Royal Academy. In recent years, he has focused a great deal on his architectural ideas, finally building a number of homes he has designed over the years.
In early 2005, Dean has announced plans to create a feature film titled Floating Islands. This film will be produced by Roger Dean and David Mousley. The story is based on the underlying theme depicted in the album artwork for Yes. It will feature 3D animated renderings of classic Dean images and music by Yes.
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Dean has lived in Brighton since 1972.
Selected list of works
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- 1964 Sea Urchin Chair
- 1973 Escape
- 1973 Arrival
- 1973 Awakening
- 1973 Pathways
- 1973 Tales from Topographic Ocean
- 1974 Relayer
- 1975 Green Castle
- 1976 Jade Sea
- 1980 Drama
- 1981 Green Tower
- 1982 Asia Dragon
- 1983 Asia Pyramid
- 1984 Hunting Dragon
- 1987 Freyja’s Castle
- 1989 Blue Desert
- 1989 Red Desert
- 1991 The Guardians
- 1991 Tsunami
- 1991 Yellow City
- 1993 Floating Islands
- 1993 Shadowland
- 1994 Aria
- 1995 Sea of Light
- 1995 Dragon’s Garden
- 1995? Dragon’s Garden (i) Mist/Dragon
- 1995? Dragon’s Garden (ii) Mist
- 1995? Dragon’s Garden (iii) Sunrise/Dragon
- 1995? Dragon’s Garden (iv) Sunrise
- 1996 Arches Morning
- 1996 Arches Mist
- 1999 The Ladder
- 2002 Floating Jungle
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Selected list of album covers
Gun
Earth & Fire
Nucleus
Lighthouse
Keith Tippett Group
Ramases
Atomic Rooster
Osibisa
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Yes
- 1971 Fragile
- 1972 Close to the Edge
- 1973 Yessongs
- 1973 Tales from Topographic Oceans
- 1974 Relayer
- 1975 Yesterdays
- 1980 Drama
- 1980 Yesshows
- 1981 Classic Yes
- 1989 Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
- 1991 Union
- 1991 Yesyears
- 1993 An Evening of Yes Music Plus
- 1996 Keys to Ascension
- 1997 Keys to Ascension 2
- 1997 Open Your Eyes
- 1998 Keys to Ascension Volumes 1 and 2
- 1999 The Ladder
- 2000 House of Yes - Live from the House of Blues
- 2001 Keystudio
- 2002 In a Word - Yes
- 2004 The Ultimate Yes
Gentle Giant
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Budgie
- 1972 Squawk
- 1973 Never Turn Your Back on a Friend
- 1996 An Ecstasy of Fumbling: The Definitive Anthology
Uriah Heep
- 1972 Demons and Wizards
- 1972 The Magician’s Birthday
- 1995 Sea of Light
- 2001 Acoustically Driven
- 2001 Remasters
McKendree Spring
Badger
Greenslade
Dave Greenslade
Steve Howe
- 1975 Beginnings
- 1979 The Steve Howe Album
- 1991 Turbulence
- 1994 Not Necessarily Acoustic
- 2003 Elements
Jon Anderson
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John Lodge
Asia
Barry Devlin
It Bites
Rick Wakeman
Space Needle
The London Symphony Orchestra
- 1997 Symphonic Rock: American Classics
- 1997 Symphonic Rock: The British Invasion, Vol. 1
- 1998 Symphonic Rock: The British Invasion, Vol. 2
Ad Infintum
Vermilion
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
Miscellaneous
- 1993 Symphonic Music of Yes
- 1995 Tales from Yesterday
- 1995 Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd
- 1996 Supernatural Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era
- 1998 Yes, Friends and Relatives
- 2000 Yes, Friends and Relatives Volume 2
References
- Fine Art Painting Gallery: Roger Dean (http://www.fine-art-painting-gallery.com/roger-dean.html)
- Artists UK: Roger Dean (http://www.artistsuk.net/acatalog/Deanprofile.htm)
- BBCi Music Interview, 2002 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/classicpop/interviews/int_dean.shtml)
- Roger Dean (1975). Views. Reissue: Pomegranate (1993): ISBN 1566404487.
- Roger Dean (1984). Magnetic Storm. Reissue: Pomegranate (1993): ISBN 1566404495.
External Links
- Roger Dean's personal web site (http://www.rogerdean.com)
- Information about the Floating Islands film project (http://www.rogerdean.com/floatingislands/intro.html)ja:ロジャー・ディーン